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THE MEXICAN WAR. 



DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED ON THE 



ANNUAL FAST, 1847, 



BY MILTON P. BRAMAN, 

PASTOB OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN DANVERS, 



DANVERS : 

PRINTED AT THE COURIER OFFICE. 

1847. ^ 



E4-07 



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SERMON: 



Deuteronomy chap. 2. v 5. Meddle not with them ; for I will not give you of 
their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth ; because I have given mount Seir unto 
Esau for a possession. 

In the journey which the children of Israel made from Egjpt to Ca- 
naan, their course lay through the country of Edom. As they approach- 
ed its confines, they asked leave to pass them, on condition of refrain- 
ing from all injury to the inhabitants and their possessions. The Ed- 
omites peremptorily refused, and met them with hostile demonstra- 
tions. The Israelites then changed the direction of their route, and 
proceeded southward to the Red Sea, whence they turned their 
course to the east, and after having "compassed mount Seir many 
days," they were commanded to advance northward towards their 
destined residence; and as their passage would again carry them 
through the territories of Edom, though in a part less capable of hos- 
tile resistance than the western frontier, they were strictly charged 
not to molest the inhabitants, nor take any thing from them, not even 
food and water, without paying an equivalent price. They were re- 
minded that not a foot-breadth of the land was to be wrested from 
its owners ; for it was assigned by the Divine Proprietor to the de- 
scendants of Esau. There was an hereditary enmity on the part of 
the Edomites against the Israelites, which broke out into the hostili- 
ties before mentioned, as the latter drew near their bordei^s. The 
insult which the Israelites had received, and the great inconvenience 
to which they had been put, in being compelled to take such a cir- 
cuitous course to gain the object of their journey, were calculated to 
inspire sentiments of hatred and revenge, and to urge them to acts of 
retaliation, when opportunity was presented, by the passage of the 
whole nation through the most defenceless portion of the enemies' 
dominion. 

The northern portion of Edom lying in vicinity to the southern 
boundary of Palestine, it would have been very convenient for the 



4 

Israelites, after having taken a part of it by conquest, to have an- 
nexed it to the country assigned them, and thus have gratified their 
pride by swelling its original dimensions. 

Nations, like individuals arc ambitious of extending their possess- 
ions. Rulers who hold their offices by a permanent tenure, and who 
inherit their dominions from a long line of ancestry, aod expect to 
transmit them to their heirs, aiid whose power resembles that which 
an individual exercises over his personal property, are in a situation 
in which strong temptations are presented to them to enlarge their ter- 
ritories. They have something like the feeling of private ownership 
in the country over which they bear rule", and the love of power, 
wealth and splendor urge them with a vehement impulse, to seize upon 
every opportunity to add to the resources and extent of their king- 
doms. Not a small part of the wars, which have convulsed nations 
and ravaged the earth, has been of tlie nature of personal contests 
between rival potentates, originating from the lust of aggrandise- 
ment. 

In republican nations like ours, one of the fruitful sources of war, 
that which arises from the personal ambition of rulers, has lost 
some part of its force. 

The political magistrates holding thoir places only for a short pe- 
riod, being limited in their power, and having no hereditary, perma- 
nent, and as it were personal interest in their offices, possess not those 
strong inducements to engage in wars of conquest, that operate, on 
the sovereigns of monarchial countries. Nevertheless, the peculiari- 
ties of their situation do not entirely shield them from the temptations 
which move so povverfuly the minds of those concerned in the admin- 
istration of other forms of authority. They are also liable to be 
swayed by popular passion, to pui-sue those measures, which falling 
in with the prevalent inclinations and ambition of the nation which 
they govern, will be likely to secure acceptance with those upon whom 
they depend for re-election to the offices which they fill. For people, 
as well as rulers, are ambitious of national grandeur. The lust of con- 
quest, a desire to extend the hmits, power and resources of the country 
which they inhabit, will sometimes pervade all classes, and impel 
them to aggression and war upon those who have not the power of 



successful resistance, and whose possessions they can appropriate to 
themselves. 

The glory of a nation is thought to reflect honor on the meanest in- 
dividual whom it embraces, and human vanity and pride are much 
gratified with the idea of being an inhabitant of a large, rich and 
prosperous country. 

These observations are closely connected with a subject on which 
I propose to offer some observations — the Mexican war, a topic with 
which all are familiar, and upon which many perhaps may think that 
they have read, if not heard enough already, but in respect to which 
I have thought it not amiss to present my own views on this occa- 
sion. 

There is two subjects suggested by this war, which will occupy the 
present discourse. One is that the policy, so much in favor with 
some, of greatly extending the territorial limits of this country is an 
unwise one ; and the other, that it is the especial interest of republi- 
can nations like ours to avoid war. Let the real origin of this war 
be Avhat it may, it is pretty evident now, that it is not the design 
of the government to bring it to a close, without acquiring a part of 
the acknowledged territory of Mexico and annexing it to the United 
States. This was intimated in an almost official manner in Congress, 
about the first of February, at the opening of the debate in the Unit- 
ed States Senate on the three million bill, so called. The intimation 
was deemed a most important disclosure; for though the acquisition of 
foreign territory was by many suspected and charged upon the govern- 
ment as the ultimate object of the aggression upon Mexico, though the 
war had been in operation nearly nine months, and the President had 
devoted a large part of an unusually long message to an explanation of 
the causes which brought it about, some of the Avisest men in the 
nation were in want of clearer light upon the subject. Mr. Calhoun, 
himself, in a speech made on the ninth of February, expressed the 
uncertainty under which his mind labored in relation to the policy of 
the President and his counsellors, and said that even then, the objects 
of the war were only a matter of inference. But when the President 
called for an appropiation af three millions, for the purpose of ena- 
bling him to make peace with Mexico, the chairman of the committee 



of foreign relations in tKe senate, who from his position was supposed 
to be in pretty full possession of the views of the executive, made quite 
a distinct avowal of the existing purposes of the government, and by 
his statements confirmed the opinions of many that these purposes had 
given birth to the war. 

The inteUigence he said, which the President had received, gave 
reason to beUeve that upon a certain advance made to the Mexicans 
to enable them to pay the expenses of their army and other expenses, 
they would be willing to cede a portion of their territory. He said 
that the United States would of course expect indemnity in the shape 
of territory for the expenses of the war, to some extent, and also for 
the claims of the nation against Mexico ; and though he was not au- 
thorized to state precisely what territory the government would de- 
mand, he supposed that no senator would think that he might get less 
than New Mexico and Cahfornia, which were already in possession 
of the American arms. 

The acquisition was at least to be of magnitude enough, to afford 
renumeration for the expenditure of the three millions — the payment 
of the unliquadated claims of Mexico, and such apart of the expenses 
of the war, as the government chose to make the Mexicans accounta- 
ble for, to our treasury. The territory which the senator specified as 
that which he supposed would be the least that was necessary to satis- 
fy the wishes of his associates, is of large extent, comprehending 
more than one third part of the whole Mexican country, extending 
from the thirty-second to the forty-second degree of north latitude, 
and reaching from the western boundaries of Texas to the shores of 
the Pacific ocean. Against so large an accession to the present do- 
main of the United States there are several objections. 

1. The extent of the United States is now amply sufficient. It 
comprehends an area of more than two million square miles. There 
are but three countries in the world Avhose surfaces are of larger di- 
mensions than ours, Russia, China and Brazil. It is more than half 
as large as all the countries of Europe together. It is ten times as 
large as the kingdom of France, one of the most powerful nations of 
continental Europe. It is almost twenty times the size of Great Bri- 
tain and Ireland, and approaches the magnitude of the whole British 



empire, comprehending its vast possessions in North America, in Asia, 
in Africa, its Islands, Colonies and dependencies, which stretch all 
around the globe, and on which it is said the sun never sets. And it 
deserves to be considered, that while it holds such a proportion in 
area to this empire, its form and condition gives, us in many respects 
quite a preponderating advantage. The United States lie together 
in a continuous mass, separated by no seas or intervening countries, 
their affairs but little involved in the disturbing politics and changes of 
the old world, containing a people, with an unfortunate exception, 
having a common interest in the republic, assimilated and assimilating 
to each other in form, features, manners, tastes and social institutions. 
But the British empire is a disjointed and dissimilar mass, made up 
of parts, that are separated asunder by wide oceans, scattered about in 
the four quarters of the globe, peopled by distinct races having few 
affinities. Much the larger portion of the subjects of the British em- 
pire, as has been truly said, are pagans and semi-barbarians. Her 
possessions are so dispersed, her subjects so restless and unsubmissive, 
her afifairs so complicated with those of other nations, that the re- 
sources of her vast army and navy are put in constant requisition 
over the whole world, to repel danger and hold the parts together. 
The sails of her war-ships are filled with every wind of heaven, and 
her deadly steel glitters in every sun that shines on the face of man. 
Almost at one and the same time, she despatches forces to put down 
rebelUon in the Canadas, to overawe disaffection in Ireland, to repel a 
horde of savages in Africa, to batter down a fortress in Syria, to 
encounter the ferocious soldiery of Afghanistan and repair the wastes of 
a bloody battle in India. 

She is like a giant, whose huge frame presents innumerable points 
of attack, furnished indeed with a hundred hands, armed with 
as many weapons, but which are obliged to be constantly in action, 
to parry hostile blows, and keep himself from being hewed to 
pieces. 

The United States comprehend a large variety of latitude and cli- 
mate. The southern extreme of Florida reaches almost to the tropical 
zone, and the northern limit of Oregon to the forty-eighth degree of 
north latitude. They unite the extremes of almost perpetual summer 



in the south, with that of the cold of Franconia, ^Yhere the thermom- 
eter is not long enough to measure the rigors of the temperature. 
They produce oranges and figs, and furs. 

The Liverpool docks enclose some ships loaded with cotton, and 
others with ice, bearing the flag of the American Union. 

If the United States were disjoined by an impassable wall from all 
the world beside, they can supply themselves with a pretty good va- 
riety of the most valuable articles of various latitudes. 

We have two thousand miles of seacoast, with some of the finest 
harbors in the world. The Union occupies some of the richest and 
most eligible parts of North America, and is capable of maintaining a 
larger population than now exists in any country on earth. 

Now what do we want of more territory? If we are ambitious to 
be a populous nation, the population is increasing with unsurpassed 
rapidity, and will soon expand to immense magnitude. If 
we wish to be rich, we possess avast area of seme of the most 
productive soil on the earth, with skill and industry that can 
turn even rocks and sands into fertile fields ; and a commerce 
that sweeps every sea, and rivals that of the mistress of the ocean. 
The resources of the country are developing as if with magic power, 
and wealth is rolling in its floods beyond all example in the history of 
human progress. 

If we are solicitous for ample power of defence against foreign ene- 
mies, no hostile force in North or South America could maintain with 
the Union a successful encounter. Its number, valor and resources, 
cause it to tower like a giant above all nations of the western conti- 
nent. It is separated by a great distance, and a wide ocean from 
the access of the most powerful nations of the old hemisphere, and is 
able to protect itself from the attacks of any one of them, or any 
number of them that would be likely to combine for an act of aggress- 
ion. 

It is said in justification of the project to extend our boundaries, 
that we want room to expand ourselves ; room doubtless for the in- 
creased population of distant future years. Who can pretend that 
we want it Avithin any such near period, as need to occasion alarm to the 
most provident legislator? The idea would be absurd. The single state 



of Missouri, if it were as fally and well cultivated as England, is ca- 
pable of supporting the whole number of the people of the United 
States. The population of England is reckoned at three hundred and 
two to a square mile. If this country were as densely inhabited as 
that, our number would swell to the enormous sum of six hundred and 
four millions. 

Perhaps there may be a larger proportion of uncultivable soil in 
the United States, than in England, but to balance this inequality, 
a large part of the land, possesses, naturally, vastly greater, produc- 
tive energies, than that of the parent state, so that with an equal- 
ly thorough and skillful agriculture, it can sustain at least, as 
great a number on the square mile as that country. We shall not 
be straitened for room at present. Supposing the population to 
double itself once in twenty-five years, which is probably the present 
rate of increase, it would require one hundred and twenty-five years 
to equalize the proportion of its numbers with that of the land of our 
origin; and when that period had elapsed, agriculture which is now 
advancing with wonderful rapidity, would have received such improve- 
ments, and the land have acquired such increasingly productive qual- 
ities, as to enable it to sustain an indefinite addition to the amount. 
There is no just reason to feel any anxiety about a redundancy of 
numbers for a century and a half to come at least. 

Besides, if we want room to expand ourselves, will not Mexico need 
the same accomodations? What will she do with her increasing pop- 
ulation, if we dismember her territory to enlarge our own? Again, 
where are we to stop? If we need New California as a provision for 
our growing number, shall we not want other additions to sustain a 
further increase? And penetrating through the isthmus of Darien 
and discovering those portions of the South Ameican states, whose 
sparseness of population would allow conveniences for emigrants, 
shall we not annex them also, and proceed to join one new region to 
another, till we have taken possession of half the other part of the 
continent? And, as no part of Mexico, and none of the countries of 
South America contain more than a fraction of what their capabili- 
ties permit, shall we not incorporate them all into our Union, as soon as 
they can be conquered? Why not provide for three hundred years. 



10 

as well as one hundred and fifty — for five hundred, as well as for one 
hundred — for a thousand, as well as for five hundred? And expand- 
ing our ideas with each new enlargement of our territorial limits, and 
extending the vision far down through distant ages, shall we not 
stretch our hand to the British and Russian possessions — to the West 
Indies and the islands of the Pacific, and every land that we dare to 
touch, and make one summary provision for all our unborn generations 
to the end of time? 

In favor of the enlargement of the United States territory, some al- 
lege Avhat they denominate our destiny, in the working out of which, 
they imagine that we are to proceed making one addition after anoth- 
er, till our banner waves over almost all North America. We must 
not suppose that the advocates of this doctrine, believe in the heath- 
en notion of fate, or that a blind and unintelligent agency is pressing 
onward human affairs to their ultimate issues. Destiny must mean in 
the mouths of professedly christian men, something fixed by a di- 
vine decree, the result of an unalterable and eternal purpose of 
Jehovah. They must entertain the opinion, that it is a part of 
the great plan of Heaven, that the United States shall push its pos- 
sessions from one limit to another, till it acknowledges no boundaries 
but the ocean. The doctrine of predestination then, it seems, makes 
a part of their political creed. I wonder if it is one of the articles of 
their religous faith also. But how do they know what the divine de- 
cree is with respect to the ultimate extent of the Union? The most 
rigid predestenarians in religion, do not pretend to be acqainted only 
with as much of the divine counsel as has been revealed. Does po- 
litical predestinarianlsm assume to know more? I am not aware that 
this is pretended. Where then is the destiny of our country reveal- 
ed? It is announced by no Uving prophet. It is not recorded on 
the pages of the Bible, nor written upon the earth, nor figured in the 
constellations of the skies. 

It is a doctrine of ecclesiastical theology, that the divine purposes 
when known, ai'C no justification of wrong doing. Docs political the- 
ology teach a different sentiment? If in pursuance of the counsels of 
Heaven, our country shall finally become coextensive with this part 
of the continent, will it sanctify aggression — will it excuse plunder — 



11 

will It wipe out the stains of guilty blood-shedding — -will it justify 
injustice, and change iniquity into righteousness? There is a destiny 
of this, and all republics, as certain as the history of God's providence 
and the nature of man can make it, which is, that they shall stand or 
fall by their moral conduct. If injustice, aggression and a disposition 
to trample on human rights, shall become the permanent and collec- 
tive character of our government and people, there is no doubt about 
our destiny, we shall fall as fell Carthage and Rome, and the other 
degenerate republics of antiquity. We shall perish in our own cor- 
ruption, and be swept away by Him who sits on the Throne of Eter- 
nal Justice, and administers the cup of retribution to the guilty na- 
tions. 

2. Any considerable addition to our territory will increase the 
toils and difficulties of the government, and multiply the evils which 
embarrass the nation. The larger the country, the more numerous and 
complicated will be its interests, the greater the amount of civil 
business to be performed, the more varied and perplexing are the cares 
and responsibilities, and the greater the wisdom, fidelity and requir- 
ed energy, of those who administer its civil concerns. It is possible 
for a country to be of such magnitude as to over-burden the govern- 
ment, and impose on them a task, which they cannot Avell sustain. 
Amid such overwhelming cares and labors as may devolve upon the 
supreme authority some duties are neglected, others half performed, 
many interests which demand attention, and are most vitally connect- 
ed with the prosperity of the people and the legitimate objects of 
magistracy, must suffer neglect and languish, which in a territory of 
smaller dimensions, will be regarded and fostered. 

Our country is large enough now to impose a heavy task on the gov- 
ernment. Our sessions of Congress when not limited by constitution- 
al provisions, stretch over eight or nine months of the year, and even 
then, a mass of the business is left unfinished, and other parts of it re- 
ceive an attention, hasty and superficial compared -with its claims. 

I presume, that if the late session had not been terminated by a 
fixed limitation, it would have continued the next summer, and then 
that the Congress would have adjourned under the compulsion of fa- 
tigue and exhau^ion, with a considerable amount of unperformed bus- 



12 

iness on tlicir hantls. What lias the Icgislatvire done during the past 
season but discuss the affiiirs of the INIexican war? The theatre of 
contest has been transferred from the Kio Grande to the Capitol at 
"Washington. There has been as much contending about the Mexi- 
cans in the halls of legislation, as there lias been with them in their 
own country; and the several political parties have fought as hard to 
overcome each other in the chamber of debate, as the army of occu- 
upation has^ to capture Santa Anna. Almost all legislation about 
other objects has been suspended, and great interests which solicited 
the attention of the rulers have been neglected, and lie over to press on 
some future overburdened sessions of Congress, and protract them 
nearly through the year. 

It is true, that we are not ordinarily to expect a foreign war to ab- 
sorb with its mighty and urgent concerns, the time and interests of the 
national councils, and crowd other important subjects out of place. 
But there is almost always some one, or more, prominent and agitating 
questions before the public mind, difficult enough in themselves to dis- 
pose of wuth justice to all parties, rendered more perplexing by the in- 
tense and conflicting feelings which it excites, and other great topics 
which its decision may affect, upon which debate runs high and long, 
and month after month is consumed, while the country is suffering not 
only from the delay of their adjustment, but from want of attention to 
other measures which are loudly demanding legislation. 

As the population of the country increases, and the resources and 
concerns become enlarged, the pressure on the government will be 
still more weighty, and the task imposed on them proportionably per- 
plexing and severe. Why should the pressure be increased without 
necessity? Why should their cares and labors be multiplied which are 
too great to be sustained now, and when no just views of policy de- 
mand their augmentation? It may be said that there should be 
an increase of the number of government officers to meet the 
growing demands of the civil concerns of the country. And so there 
might, and must be in some of its pohtical departments. But there 
can be but one President, and if he had the whole continent of 
America for the subject of his administration, upon his single mind 
must devolve all the weight of Presidential cares and responsibilities, 



IB 

and in his own person, must ho execute the peculiar functions of liis 
office, just as tliougli lie was but tlie cliief magistrate of a republic 
no larger than Massachusetts. 

There can be but one Congress to perform all its legislation ; 
and though its members might be multiplied a hundred fold, they 
would not make greater progress in public business than with the 
present number. Indeed, there would be so much more speaking, 
and partisanship, and variety of opinions, and so many more cross 
currents in such a large assembly, that the necessary and useful 
labors devolving upon them, would not be so well executed as they 
are now. Legislative bodies may be too large. The evil is, among 
us, anticipated and guarded against. So that from time to time 
the number of people required to elect a representative to the lower 
house of Congress is augmented, and as the population advances, 
Congressional Districts will increase from eighty thousand to a hun- 
dred and fifty thousand, and from that to three hundred thousand 
and onward, and thus to avoid the evil of an overwhelmintT le^^'is- 
lative assembly in the Capitol, the time may come, when even so 
many inhabitants as are now contained in the whole state of Massa- 
chusetts might not be sufficient to elect as representatives, to the pop- 
idar branch of the National Councils. 

If the country were as well peopled as England, and the Cono-ression- 
al Districts no larger than at present, we should have a house of rep- 
resentatives consisting of nearly seven thousand. When would such 
a body finish speech-making? There is such a propensity to this 
habit, that the members are limited to an hour now. The towering 
flight of many an orator is suddenly checked and brought Ioav, and as 
he is borne upon the current of his periods, he suddenly strikes upon 
an insignificant monosylable, and his eloquence is cruelly dashed to 
pieces. On some questions there is such an eagerness to speak, that 
there is a perfect scramble for the floor, and he is a fortunate 
man who gets liberty to give vent to the inspiration which glows 
within. 

The house is certainly quite large enough with its present numbers 
for an expeditious despatch of the public business. But if the coun- 
try was proportionably populous as England, the number of constituents 



14 

for cacli representative, would require to be enlarged to more than 
two millions and a half* 

Now the object of reprenstatlon is of ^"course to represent — to ex- 
press the views, feelings and interests of the constituency. The rea- 
son why those chosen for this purpose must reside in the vicinity of 
the electors, is, that each portion of the country might have its claims 
duly presented and understood, amidst the congregated wisdom of 
the nation. The representatives are required to be inhabitants of the 
District for Avhich they are elected, so that they might have those 
common sympathies, and that acquaintance ^vith the circumstances 
and interests of those who depute them to act in their behalf, that 
nearness of location may give. 

The members of the House of Commons in England may be chosen 
by the boroughs and counties from any part of the kingdom. A man 
who resides in London may be elected by the city of Edinburgh. An 
inhabitant of Scotland may be appointed to represent a town in Ire- 
land. This is thought by us to be a bad arrangement. Supposing 
an individual in Maine should be delegated to represent a District in 
Alabama or Misslssip|)i. Could he sympathise with the sentiments, 
and know the condition and wants of his constituents as Avell as the in- 
habitants of either of those places? So the smaller the district for 
which he acts, the better acquaintance will a delegate have of its 
position, concerns and necessities. But the wider the extent of the 
country, the larger must be the number of people assigned to the con- 
gressional sections, to avoid the evil of an overgrown and cum- 
brous body of legislators; and of consequence the less able will indi- 
viduals selected to represent them be, to transmit the views and wishes 
of those diflferent portions of the country to the National Government. 

This is a strong reason against increasing the extent of the country 
when no urgent considerations demand it. The interests of its va- 
rious parts will in many important respects, be less faithfully ex- 
pressed in the action of the general administration. 

Again, the country will be exposed to a greater number of in- 
trigues and disturbing agitations of ambitious men, and to the evils of 
more numerous sectional divisions and party strifes, in proportion to 
the extent of its area. There are a thousand times more now, who 



15 

aspire lo tlic high political places of the nation, than can obtain thcni. 
There can be, as has been eaid, but one President, but there are 
hundreds who aspire to his office. And the members of Congress 
must be limited far, within the number of those who are anxious to 
obtain seats in its chambers, and will be becoming continually fewer, 
proportionably to the populousness of the nation. The more exten- 
sive the country, the more will the aspirants for the high offices of the 
nation be multiplied ; and the larger the Congressional Districts, the 
greater the number who will be excluded from the political elevations 
which they are solicitous to reach. Now, ambitious, unprincipled 
men, who are disappointed in their aims for civil distinction, are the 
pests of the Republic. Fired with lofty views,— exasperated by com- 
petition — rankling with envy towards those Avho have out-stripped 
them in the career of advancement, and determined to win success 
at all hazards and consequences, they will intrigue, agitate, raise op- 
pression, get up new parties for frivolous and nefarious reasons, 
and sacrifice principle, patriotism and all public interests, on the altar 
of personal aggrandizement. It is desirable that we should have as 
few such disappointed men as possible. It is thought by some that 
the independent state governments, presenting so many opportuni- 
ties for certain grades of political elevation, in the numerous offices 
which they supply, are a kind of safety-valve, to let off the super- 
abundant steam of ambition, which would otherwise act with tremen- 
dous force, on the national machinery, and explode it to fragments. 
There is, no doubt, truth in the opinion ; and happy for us is it, that 
our system of government is so constructed, as to counteract in such 
a measure, the evils to which our society is exposed, from the all- 
prevalent and ungovernable thirst for political eminence. 

If ours were a central government, and the states mere provinces 
of a large country, ruled by lieutenants or deputies, instead of the 
present organizations, and the people possessed the intelligence, ardor 
and energy which signalize them now, the ambition of numerous men 
which is now pacified by state offices, would aim higher, and pro- 
duce a degree of tumult, and competition, and strife, that would 
greatly mar our happiness and endanger our safety. But the nature 
and operation of the remedy, reveal the malignity of the disease, 



18 

Avlilcli is but partially checked, and needs all the salutary precaution 
Avhich our -wisdom can devise, and our situation permits to be taken. 

Further, the greater the magnitude of our territory, the more nu- 
merous its sectional interests, and consequent party divisions. It is 
just -svith a large country, as it is v.ith a large town or school dis- 
trict. One part of the inhabitants will live on a hill, and another in 
a valley. A portion will be situated on this side of a brook, another 
on that. Some of the families will reside in a corner and some in 
the centre. And there is a hill party, and a valley party, and the 
north side of the brook party, and the south side party, and the cen- 
tre party, and the corner party, which setting up some real or imagi- 
nary interest within their respective limits, will growl defiance across 
the lines, as if they were so many hostile entrenchments, whose 
duty it was to war with each other. And there are conflicting 
opinions and animosities, and jealousies, and feuds, which will keep 
the communities in agitation, and interfere with the adoption of thosd 
wise measures which are requisite for the general interests. 

This country is of such great extent, and embraces such a variety 
of those influences which affects character, that there is occasion for 
no little dissimilarity in the sentiment and passions of the different 
sections. Climate, of which there is such a diversity, affects the 
physical organization of man, Avhich in its turn, gives its own complex- 
ion to the mental habits and feelings. The local condition and pur- 
suits of life, which have such an influence in determining the modes 
of thought and controlling prejudices, are multiform in their nature, 
and produce their appropriate effects on society. 

The great distance which intervenes between those who occupy the 
extreme parts of the confederacy, impairs the force of that feeling' 
which more or less unite inhabitants of the same country together, 
and by estranguig them from each other, gives rise to a diversity 
of opinions and preferences which might be blended into harmony by 
vicinity of location. Why should the distance in any direction be 
increased? Why should we add new Aveaknesses to those sympathies 
that now draw us with too feeble an attraction? Why should new 
occasion of diversity and alienation, and division be added to those 
sources of discordant strife Avhich perplex the counsels of the govern- 



17 

ment, alarm the fears of the patriot, and threaten the safety of the 
nation ? 

To these remarks it may be replied, that when there is a great 
number of distinct interests and political combinations in a state, they 
present a bulwark against the predominance of any one whose designs 
may be hostile to liberty and public welfare; and that their very mul- 
tiplicity is a safeguard to the country, by the counteraction which they 
exert against each other. The justice of this remark, within certain 
limits, cannot be denied. But have we not now room and occasion 
enough for all that variety which the safety of the Commonwealth de- 
mands? Would not an increase of its amount become a source of 
peril, by occasioning great delay in the public business, by producing 
sudden and disastrous changes in the national policy, and crushing 
great measures of indispensable utility to the country? 

3. It is a well settled opinion that the stability and permanency 
of our free institutions rest on the intelligence, virtue, and strength of 
religious sentiment in the country. Some portions of our union, par- 
ticularly New England, possess those elements and guarantees of re. 
publican liberty in an extensive and encouraging degree. They are 
great models for the new and forming states, whose success and pros- 
perity depend on the approach which they make to their illustrious ex- 
amples. But the recently formed and forming states, to say nothing 
of some others of older date, arc in a condition to awaken the patriot- 
ic concern of every man who Avishes aycII to the republic, and hopes 
for the success of the great experiment of North American liberty. 
It is a point clearly understood and admitted by every intelligent man, 
decided with him beyond all question, that unless that portion of the 
country which comprehends more than half the area, which is the 
most fertile in resources, and destined to become the most populous, 
•wealthy and powerful section of the whole, is not vastly better sup- 
plied with the sources of moral and intellectual culture, than the pres- 
ent means furnish, a disastrous fate awaits it. Free institutions can- 
not be maintained in it; and as the physical power will reside in that dis- 
trict, and as the rest of us are united with them under a common govern- 
ment, how hardly shall we escape a common ruin. When that fall 
takes place, it will shake New England and the Atlantic states as if aa 

3 



18 

earthquake had unsettled the foundation of all their hills and moun- 
tauis, if it does not overwhelm them in the same catastrophe. We 
do indeed hope for a hotter fate for all. We hope that the deep im- 
pression of alarm which the danger has created, the mighty interest 
that has beenawakened, that the vast ocean tide of patriotic and chris- 
tian feeling which is rolling in upon those arid lands, that the great 
mustering of the forces of American liberty on those western battle- 
fields, where the last contest is to be fought, and the last victory won 
or lost, will leave the banners of intelligent christians, happy repub- 
licanism floating and triumphant along the whole length of the Missis- 
sipi. But cannot every reflecting personse e that we shall have enough 
to do to win the field? There is another revolutionary war to be fought; 
a war not against steel and military array, but a war against ignorance, 
irreligion, Romanism and the most formidable foes that ever assailed 
freedom. Two or three states have been, or are about to be added 
to the union, in which are Bunker-hills, wanting to become fields of 
combat for liberty, extending from one limit to another. Europe is 
emptying her cities and villages on the broad plains of the west, as 
the clouds pour out rain. 

A little while since, Texas came into the Union with her hundred 
thousand square miles of territory on the south west. Oregon on the 
west having had her boundary ascertained, and become a well defined 
portion of our possessions, presents an inviting field for emigration. 
And now the republic stands with one foot on the shores of the At- 
lantic, and another on the Pacific, and stretches her arms over thir- 
teen hundred miles from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Blexico. 

It is almost discouraging to contemplate the mighty Avork which we 
have to do, to save these United States to liberty. And New En- 
gland, as she always has done, is to take the heaviest part of the work 
on her hands, and Massachusetts to sustain the weightier part of New 
England's burden. The christian looks on the great west, and asks 
with a sigh how shall we save the country and fulfil the pious wishes 
of our fathers ? The patriot glances at the mighty surface which is 
peopling beyond all precedent In history, and demands what influence 
shall perpetuate our freedom. The man who is solicited year 
afccr year for increasing contributions to help build up the institutions 



19 

of learning, and religion in the now settlements, is almost wearied with 
the importunity, and asks when will it cease? And yet as if the pres- 
ent reasons for alarm and complaint were not aggravated enough 
we are now contemplating the accession of a new territory nearly six 
times as large as Texas. The region embracing New Mexico and 
California covers a surface of five huudred and fifteen thousand square 
miles. It is almost nine times as large as New England. It is near- 
ly half as large again as all the thirteen states which united in the Dec- 
laration of Independence in 1775. 

New California has a fertile soil, and its latitude extends from the 
parallel of Savannah in Georgia, to that of Boston. It is said to be 
extremely productive of all kinds of grain, admitting of two crops in a 
season. Gold and silver mines, and copper of unlimited quantity, ex" 
ist in the country. For its maratime advantages, it is said not to have 
its equal on the whole western coast of America. The principal ports, 
San Francisco and San Diego, are reputed to be some of the finest 
on the northern part of the continent. No wonder that the territory 
is coveted. 

But what can we do with it if v\'e acquire it? The population, 
though small for the territory, is about sixty thousand, almost all cath- 
olics in their religion probably ; unassimilated in their opinions, t.istes 
and habits, to the spirit of our institutions, and quite unfit to be citi- 
zens of our republic. But no sooner is it annexed to our country , than 
the stream of emigration Avill set in upon it from the states, and from 
foreign countries, and pour itself like a deluge all over the land ; and 
then for the sixty thousand original papists, with all the additions of 
Romanists from Europe, and for Protestants who have outrun the insti- 
tutions of rehgion and popular information, the cry will be wafted, 
the cry that has so long been borne across the Alleghanies, give us the 
gospel, send us teachers ; the Papists are flooding us with priests, 
and building their cathedrals, and estabhshlng their nunneries. 
Thousands are growing up in Ignorance and irrcliglon; our institutions 
are in danger. And if the piety and patriotism of the Northern and 
Atlantic states are not on the alert, and ready to be taxed to the ut- 
most, then another cloud black with wrath and foreboding, will throw 
itself up from the horizon to add new and perilous gloom to the masses 



20 

tliat frown the western sky. Truly, wc shall have enough on our 
hands, if things go on as tlicy have begun. In eighteen hundred and 
forty-one Yucatan, a province of Mexico, on the southern edge of the 
gulf, directly opposite New Orleans, set up for Independence. A 
month or two ago, commissioners arrived from that place to Washing- 
ton, to treat with our government. Perhaps there will he a project on 
foot for annexing that region soon. The inhabitants may want our 
troops to defend them from Santa Anna, if he ever gets safely released 
from his engagements with Taylor ^ and then the Yankees Avill take 
their pay in forests of logwood on the bay of Campeachy. "^Vhata 
mercy it is that we have the Atlantic on tho east, and the Pacific on 
the west, for if these oceans were land, it would not be long before a 
scheme w^uld be devised for annexing all mankind to the United 
States. 

If Captam Parry Wd found his way to the North Pole, that 
possibly might have boon already annexed, so that our ships might 
have a profitable speculation in transporting ice, after it had been di- 
vested of its salt, to Calcutta. And it would certainly be less danger- 
ous to acquire an accession of ice, than of productive soil. If Cali- 
fornia is added to the United States, it would be vastly better and 
safer for us, as far as human eye can see, that its fine soil should be 
converted into a plain of ice, four thousand miles thick, than that by 
its mild climate and productive energies, and rich mines, it should 
rear up a vast catholic, ignorant, vicious population, to threaten mis- 
chief to our free institutions. 

4. It is a fixed design of many of the southern politicians to con- 
vert the contemplated accession, or at least a considerable portion of 
it into slave territory. The acquisition of a part of Mexico for the 
purpose of extending slave-holding, is thought, and not without many 
plausible reasons, to have been the moving spring of the war. How- 
ever that may be, it is sufficiently plain, that the design is to convert 
whatever accession is made, to this nefarious purpose. 

AVhen, during the winter, the three million appropiation was 
called for in Congress, as it was supposed to be one part of the design 
to make use of it in the purchase of new territory, a proviso 
was attached to the bill, the purport of which was, that sla- 



21 

very should be forever excluded from any new lands that might be 
acc^uired. It passed in the House of Representatives by a pretty 
good majoi-ity. Its ftxte was thought doubtful in the Senate. After 
a thorough debate there, the appropiation was agreed to, and the 
proviso rejected. 3-he bill then went back to the House, when to the 
reproach of that body, the former vote was changed, and the bill ac- 
cepted as it was returned. It was not so strange that the slave-hold- 
ers should pursue such a policy as they did, hoAvevcr inexpedient and 
depraved it may be; but that northern men, who profess to regard, 
and do regard slaveholding as an abominable system of oppression and 
mischief, should be willing to take the risk of such deplorable conse- 
quences as were so likely to follow from the votes which they gave, 
shows to what prodigious lengths of folly and inconsistency men will 
sometimes proceed to carry out a favorite system of policy. If the 
non-slaveholding states would be true to their duty and country, a 
death blow might be given to the further extension of slavery in this 
country. The abettors of the atrocious system, arc not strong enough 
to eifect their measures without adventitious aid. Most, perhaps all 
of those from the free states who voted against the proviso, are doubt- 
less sincerely, deeply opposed to slavery, but they wanted Esau's land. 
And they would, must have it at the hazard of all consequences. Cal- 
afornia must be acquired, though its fine soil should be cut up into 
plantations of slaveholders. The cry was for land, though it should 
be Avet with the tears, and its breezes should be loaded with the sighs 
of bondage; and one of the heaviest curses that ever afflicted man, 
or provoked heaven, should spread "blasting and mildew" from one 
limit to another. 

The advocates of slavery contend, that the territories of the United 
States are common property, and that it is a violation of southern 
rights and the constitution, not to allow the slaveholder to emigi-ate 
with his servants into the new territories, with the exception of those 
with regard to which there may be some express or tacit agreement 
to the contrary, as well as the person who owns any other descrip- 
tion of property. But the question is, wdiether the property is 
rightly held? If not, then it resolves itself into this, whether the gov- 
ernment shall confer the liberty to commit a grievous political wrong? 



22 

"Whether it shall grant a man a right to violate right? The slave mas- 
ter contends that he has a right to hold his fello^Y beings in bondage 
in the new lands, and the person so held, claims the right to be set 
at liberty, and to become his own master; and Congress is called upon 
to arbitrate between them. Now with any well constituted and un- 
prejudiced mind, the question does not admit of a moment's hesitation. 
The government has a right to say, that while we will not intefere 
with your wrong doing in the present slave states, because it is against 
the constitutional compact, we do not admit tliat this compact extends 
to the new territories ; and if you are found in the possession of a horge 
or a man, to which you cannot show a valid title, the true owner shall 
have his property restored to him. There can be no reasonable ob- 
jection to such a decision. 

It is alleged also, that if new states apply for admission into the 
Union, "with a republican constitution of government, the Congress 
has no right to enquire whether slavery is alloAved in them or not. 
Just as if a form of government, the principles of which permitted one 
man to hold another in domestic servitude, were strictly republican, 
a constitution may be ever so excellent in many respects, but so far 
as it allows of slavery, it has an anti-republican element. This feature 
is no more republican, than the despotism of Turkey. The Congress 
has a right to demamd of every state that sues for admission into the 
Union, that its form of government be republican in all respects, or at 
least that there shall be no very gross departures from such a model. 
But slavery is such a departure. The constitution of the United 
States, in those provisions which lend a sanction to African servitude, 
presents an exception to the general principles on which it is founded. 
It is to some extent a compromise, and was understood to be such at 
the time it was framed. Now the whole spirit of American freedom, 
the express objects for which Independence was declared, the general 
principles of the constitution itself, forbid that the compromise should 
be extended at all beyond its original design. 

We are told, however, of the conservative influence which slavery 
exerts on our political institutions; it is held forth as a remedial agent 
incur system, for disorders that admit of no other cure. It has even 
been denominated the corner stone of American freedom. The idea 



23 

seems to be, tliat as the laboring portion in every community, must 
form a large, ignorant, degraded, vicious populace, disqualified to prop- 
erly exercise the rights of citizenship, whose passions are inflammable, 
and whose vast physical force may be wielded by demagogues with 
terrible effect against the state, it is better that they should be de- 
prived of all political rights, and converted into slaves, to ' destroy 
their power of doing mischief. And so if the African race in any 
instance should not happen to furnish a supply for the purpose, the 
principle would demand that one portion of the whites should be sub- 
jected to the other. Now this is giving up republicanism; it is a con- 
fession of the utter impracticability of free institutions; it is surrender- 
ing the great doctrines of our revolutionary contest, and going back to 
the days of vassalage and barbarianism. If our free system cannot 
be sustained except on the basis of slavery, then it is not worthy of 
the name; it is an outrage on all propriety to call it republican, and it 
could be as truly denominated a despotism as any which ever trod hu- 
man necks into the dust. But there is no necessity for the ignorance 
and degradation of the laboring classes. If proper means are used to 
extend popular information, and the influences of Christianity, the 
great moral disease under which so many countries have labored may 
be healed; the masses can be elevated; the populace may become the 
people, and like those trained in the New England schools, and swayed 
by the influences of the New England pulpit, they may form the 
choicest materials for a republican edifice, the strength and foundation 
of revolutionary and puritan liberty. Setting aside all considerations 
of republicanism and the rights of humanity, it is wonderful that a 
man of Mr. Calhoun's acute and vigorous mind, and extensive reading 
and observation, should not see the disastrous influence of slavery in 
an economical point of view. His own state of South Carolina feels the 
poison of the institution working at the vitals of her prosperity. In a 
letter, dated the 2d of March last, from Tennessee, it is said that 
population and the price of land are declining all over the state, a 
great number of plantsations are worn out and abandoned. The pro- 
portion of exhausted land is increasing every year. The people are 
60 poor, that that the wTstern drovers are obliged to sell extremely 
low to find any market at all. Over one hundred and fifty thousand 



24 

emigrants passctl tlirougli Tennessee from North and Soutli Carolina, 
between the harvest and March; and it was said that emigration would 
continue through all the spring. Mr. Calhoun seems to think that if 
the poor creatures are so lost to a sense of their own happiness as to 
run away from the paradise of slavery, it is his duty to send the para- 
dise after tlicm. If they will not stay in the garden of Eden where 
it is, he will carry it Avhere they go ; he wishes to bless California, if 
we acquire it, and cause that wilderness to rejoice, and make it bud 
and blossom like the worn out plantations of South Carolina. We are 
referred to the amount of staple productions we owe to slave labor, 
as a reason for its continuance. Just as though free labor could not 
cultivate them as well. If the slaveholders do not know that the en- 
ergies of freemen are many times as productive as those of slaves, 
they have yet to learn what are the first principles not only of human- 
ity and justice, but of agriculture and economy. 

Shall we have four or five hundred thousand square miles of slave 
territory added to this Union? Shall we convert this large and fertile 
tract into a house of bondage for the poor African? Shall we curse the 
soil, and taint the air, and poison the springs of its comfort and pros- 
perity, and destroy all its life, and then fasten it like a putrid and fester- 
ing corpse to this living republic, to infuse its venom into the lungs, 
and arteries of the whole political system ? God forbid that such an 
act of folly should disgrace the intelligence of the age; that such a deed 
should stain the pages of American freedom ; God forbid that justice 
and right should so be trampled down in this nineteenth century of 
Christianity. 

If the contemplated plan should be carried out, and slave-holding 
should gain a great addition of extent and power, it would )^e fraught 
with mischief of the most formidable character. No human mind 
can penetrate through the thick darkness that would envelope the 
prospect before us ; and Ave could only cast ourselves in humble trust 
on the care of Him, who, sitting at the helm of affairs, has hitherto 
guided the destiny of our country, and who is^ble to direct the most 
perplexed and gloomy alTtiirs of the nation to safe and prosperous 
issues. 

But our duty is plain. It is fur all non-slaveholding states, with- 



out respect to party, to unite in one strong and unflinching column 
ajzainst the consummation of so disastrous a measure, to hem in the 
mischief that is pressing on the commonwealth on all sides, as with a 
wall of adamant, that will reach up to heaven. I would treat it as 
scorpions are sometimes treated, when a great circular fire is kindled 
around the venomous reptile, which waxing warmer and warmer, com- 
pels it to turn in every direction for escape, and at length to thrust, 
in despair, its sting into its own vitals. 

If we consent to such a nefarious measure as this, then let the 
name and history of Plymouth be blotted from American annals; let 
all the Puritan blood within us burst from our veins ; let the great strug- 
gle of this country for freedom escape from the memory of man; let 
us take the constitution of our government and the bills of rights of 
every state, and kindling them into a flame, present them as a burnt 
ofiering on the altar of injustice and oppression. 

Another topic of this discourse is that war is a dangerous employ- 
ment for republics. 

1. It is peculiarly so with unjustifiable war. No republic can 
stand, as has already been intimated, that is not founded on the great 
principles of justice and a regard to human rights. Virtue and re- 
ligion are the only safeguards of liberty. An unjust war, as has been 
said, is the greatest of all atrocities. It is a whole nation engaged 
in the murder of hundreds and thousands of innocent persons. When 
Avars are waged by monarchical countries, it is often an afiair of the 
governments, which the great mass of the people have no agency in 
bringing about. In republican governments like ours, the people 
are the sovereigns. The ofiicers of the government are the represen- 
tatives of the popular will, the agents to execute the mandates of 
those who raise them to power. When, therefore, you see such coun- 
tries engaged in unjust wars, you witness an exhibition of national 
injustice, and will see one of the saddest omens of the decline of the 
republic which its condition can present. It is true that the rulers 
may sometimes pursue measures for Avhich the people are not respon- 
sible, and that are contrary to the general will. But these measures 
Avill soon be arrested, for the feelings of an outraged people will em- 
body themselves in utterance and go up to the high places of power 



26 

in tones so loud and cmpliatic, as to cause clieir occupants well to un- 
derstand that the only alternatives arc, an abandonment of their course 
or a loss of their stations. But usually, the jiublic councils are direct- 
ed by the expressed or understood inclinations of the majority of 
the community. And when this community is inflamed by ambition 
and the lust of plunder, and urges the rulers on to aggressive war on 
neighboring countries, it evinces such a profligacy of sentiment, as 
must fill the heart of every virtuous man with anxiety for the conse- 
quences. If men will make an unjust attack on foreign dominions, 
invading the rights and destroying the lives of the people, they will, 
when occasion presents, turn their hostilities on each other; and the 
liberties of the people will be trampled down by the strongest and 
most successful faction. 

The present war with jMexico is thought by a large number of the 
people, and by some of all political parties, to be unnecessary and un- 
just. It is the opinion of some of the most eminent and well informed of 
the country, who take opposite views generally on the great civil ques- 
tions which divide the people, that without any compromise of honor, 
without any loss of territory to which we have a just claim, without 
any sacraficc of property and right, this contest might have been avoid- 
ed by wise counsels and forbearance on the part of those who guide 
the measures of the state ; and thus all that dreadful waste of life and 
treasure, which the war has occasioned, might have been saved to 
both the contending nations. Without meaning to introduce any mere 
political topics into the pulpit, or to speak as a member of any party, 
I am constrained to say, that from the developements which have been 
made, and the discussions that have been held, it is pretty evident that 
these opinions are founded on strong reasons, and make it clear, that 
if prudence, a spirit of conciliation, a just sense of the evils of bloody 
strife, and a contentment with the present limits of our possessions 
had presided in the hearts of rulers and people, we might have con- 
tinued at peace, and all the questions in dispute between the United 
States and Mexico have been in the course of honorable and just 
settlement. It is no place here to enter minutely into the consid- 
erations which relate to the questions between the two coun- 
tries. But I ma}^ say, it seems to have been successfully established, 



27 

that the American forces -were ordered to march into territories that 
never made a part of Texas, and which had always been under the con- 
trol of Mexican authority, and that too, notwithstanding what may 
have been said to the contrary, when there was no probability that the 
Mexicans intended to invade our soil, or to molest us in any degree 
whatever. As to the wrongs which they had inflicted on our citizens 
and which are acknowledged to be great, — though they had influences 
on the measures and feelings which have resulted in the warfare — it is 
not pretended that they made a part of the immediate occasion of it. 
The war, therefore, is a war of invasion on the rights and territories of 
a neighboring republic, and this nation is committed to the greatest 
wrong which human beings can inflict on each other ; their hands are 
stained with the blood of thousands who have fell in deadly strife, be- 
sides that of all who have perished in the pestilence of foreign regions, 
and have sunk exhausted under the fatigues of a military life. And 
in the infliction of this wrong, the moral sense of the nation exhibits a 
fearful degree of perversion. That religious sense of right and re- 
sponsibility, without which all other safeguards are inefficient, has at 
once revealed its want of strength and has become impaired ; injus- 
tice, which inflicts as much injury on ourselves as on the nation against 
whom it is committed, has triumphed. There has been a wide depart- 
ure from the only path of our country's safety ; the great pillars of our 
freedom are shaken. We hope there is enough of the conservative 
elements of justice, religion and the fear of God to effect a strong coun- 
teraction, and to arrest the progress of corrupt principle ; that the pres- 
ent is only a partial disorder which there is vigorous vitality enough 
to check and expel from the system. For if not, if the career now 
^ commenced should go forward without hindrance, if the restraints of 
morality are to be cast off, if the thirst for plunder and love of vio- 
lence, and contempt of obligation, should direct the sentiments of the 
nation, and impel them to aggression on other communities, then 
will seeds of fatal mischief be sown in our soil, and we shall reap the 
bitter harvest which our infatuation has sown ; and that noble edifice 
whose foundation was laid in piety and baptised in blood, and has been 
favored by the kindest benignity of heaven will fall in pieces. 
2. Wars of republics tend greatly to disturb the balance of the 



28 

government. They give undue prominence to the executive branch 
of authority. I think it has been remarked that -when the frame of 
our government was established, the constitution of the executive, 
of the Presidency was among the most difficult parts of the work. The 
medium between giving the chief magistrate too much, and too little 
power, required great wisdom to find. But of one thing there was 
not then, and there is no question now "that it is of the nature of 
war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative author- 
ity." This very remark was made by Mr. Hamilton, when the con" 
stitution was before the people for acceptance; he is speaking howev- 
er of the effect of continued war to compel the legislature to clothe the 
executive with additional powers, but it is true in other aspects. The 
prosecution of war, the operations of which often require such (piick 
despatch, such promptitude and energy in the supreme command, 
cannot be trusted to the direction of deliberative assemblies. They 
would debate when they should act, and the most critical and deci- 
sive momemt would pass away, amidst the conflict of those who could 
unite in no decision. 

The President of the United States is commandcr-in-cllof of the 
Army and Navy. These two mighty arms of the nation, he can 
wield with absolute authority ; he can send them to any part of the 
country, or the world whither he pleases they should go. War in- 
creases the army, or rather in tliis country may be said to create it ; 
and if it does not add to the navy, yet it puts the armed ships in or- 
der for battle. Now suppose an extreme case ; that is, of an army of 
one hundred, or two hundred thousand men under skilful officers, 
trained to war, having all the habits and tastes of a disciplined sol- 
dery, long detached from civil life and sympathy with the people, to 
be in the field. Suppose the President to be a man of great military 
capacity, of ambitious views, and that he place liimself at tlie head 
of this formidable army. Suppose there exists a navy of tliirty or 
forty ships of the line, with tlie usual accompaniment of lesser armed 
vessels, to operate in conjunction with this land force, Avieldcd by the 
same executive arm. Suppose a succession of splendid victories to 
have awakened the highest degree of popular enthusiasm in favor of 
the army with its leaders, and that both that and the navy were most 



29 

iclolatrousl}' devoted to the supreme commander, and prepared to ex- 
ecute any designs which he shoukl form to promote his own aggran- 
disement. If such a man was disposed to break down ottr constitu- 
tion, and trample on our liberties, and erect liimself a throne at Wash- 
ington, who would not tremble for the consequences to the republic? 
It is the American and English policy to control the executive and 
his army, by making them dependent on the legislature for supplies ; 
but our congress itself miglit be dazzled and blinded by the lustre of 
military glory, which was reflected from the army, and the young men 
of the former body, fired with the ambition of military reputation and 
the hopes of appointment to office in the ranks, might yield 
themselves to the dictation of the imperious chief, and lay everything 
he asked at his feet. But at any rate, the army must be suppHed 
with means for some months in advance, to enable it to form its plans 
and conduct its movements with any tolerable degree of foresight, 
vigor and success. Three months supply would give a commander, 
like Cromwell or Bonaparte immense advantage. Besides, suppose 
he should equip himself with the captured resources of the enemy, or 
make a combined attack with the military and naval armament on 
such a city as New York^ and open the vaults of the banks and oth- 
er deposits of money, and levy an assessment on the rich, and thus 
take by the sword and cannon wdiat the congress refused to grant 
him. 

I have supposed as I have said a very extreme case, but it illus- 
trates my principle, and all cases in which the principle is involved, 
make a greater or less approach to such an extreme, and to its fear- 
ful consequences. We are jealous in this country of standing armies, 
for all history allows Avhat powerful engines they have been for crushing 
liberty. They would be dangerous, if of any size, by whatsoever power 
controlled. But they would be peculiarly dangeroiTS, if under the 
sole command of the executive. Hence the President has not only 
no power to raise armies, but not even to command the militia, ex- 
cept when called into the actual service of the United States in the 
way the congress directs. The framers of our constitution had read 
history, and gave heed to the solemn warnings which rung in their ears 
from every country of the old world, and from every age of antiqui- 



so 

ty. But every war gives the Pi-esident a standing army during Its 
continuance. It puts the mighty power of twenty, thirty, or forty 
thousand men into his hands to move when he says march ; to stop when 
he cries halt ; to pour out a tempest of shot when he points the fin- 
ger ; and to be controlled by his voice as the winds lift up the surges 
ef the ocean. Such a force though small for the extent of our coun- 
try, and compared with the immense number which could be brought 
to resist it, if it aimed to accomplish any nefarious purpose, yet, 
guided by an executive, possessed of the resources and energy of 
some military chieftains, and covered with the glory of brilliant suc- 
cesses which he had obtained in the field, and increasing his number 
by bands of adventurers that might be induced to rally around his 
standard, it might prove a most dangerous and terrible foe to our In- 
stitutions. 

It is true, that men of capacity for war, like those to whom I have 
alluded, are rare, as all other persons of brilliant talent; and the con- 
dition of our country does not favor the success of those who would 
rise by military adventure, and by turning their traitorous arms 
against their own government ; and a war of short continuance, in 
which a large part of the force consists of volunteers who serve for 
brief terms, and then retire to civil life, under direction of a Presi- 
dent of no military pretensions, and who confines himself at home to the 
political duties of his office, may not be supposed to give any great 
and perilous predominance to the executive. 

But every war has this tendency. It furnishes the President with 
a power which under various pretences, and for various reasons he 
has peculiar opportunities for abusing. One abuse and unwarranted 
stretch of authority prepare the way for others. War being directed 
against an enemy to whom it is the object to do injury, and dealing in 
violence and blood, throws a veil of palliation over excesses and unjus- 
tifiable assumption of power ; and one or two brilliant triumphs will 
cast such a glare upon crime, as to hide its deformity from public 
observation. 

A single war also tends to produce a staU of war. One contest often 
grows out of another. One war renders a succeeding one more proba- 
ble. The people become familiarized to the shock of arms, and the spil- 



31 

ling of human blood; disbanded soldiers thirst for neAV and stirring ad- 
ventures ; retired officers bui-n Avith ardent desire to plunge into con- 
test, and gather new laurels on the field of blood ; and thus there is a 
tending to perpetuate that condition of war, in which, according to Mr. 
Hamilton, it becomes necessary to clothe the executive with dispropor- 
tionate power, and to give it a preponderance in the government, 
which will afford it a great temptation and opportunity to absorb all 
power into itself, and erect itself a colossal throne upon the ruins of 
the co-ordinate branches of government, and the prostrate liberties of 
the people. 

We have great reason to hope that things will never proceed to 
such a deplorable extremity in this hitherto fortunate land ; that 
notwithstanding the unpropitious indications which exhibit them- 
selves in our public affairs, there is so much of an intelligent 
appreciation of the value and necessary securities of our freedom; 
such a tendency to industrial enterprise and the arts of peace ; 
such a degree of the spirit of humanity, and sense of religious obliga- 
tion in the public sentiment of the people, as to arrest the progress 
of all those mischiefs that threaten disaster to the nation. But should 
not the jealousy of a free spirit be constantly awake ? Should not ev- 
ery avenue to danger be closed up, and "should not we all be posted 
like sentinels on the watchtowers of the republic to detect every insid- 
ious foe, and eager to repel him from our borders ? Our policy is 
peace ; peace for the balance of government, which war unsettles, 
peace for freedom, which war endangers; peace as far as possible ; 
peace to the last limits of forbearance ; peace with Mexico on the 
south-west ; with Russia on the north-west ; with Great Britain on the 
north and east; peace Avith Europe, Asia, Africa, and South Amer- 
ica to all generations. 

3. I have already anticipated some remarks which were intended 
to be made under the third topic, Avhich is, that war tends to excite an 
undue degree of the military spirit in the community. In some 
countries the military ardor has been cultivated as the most essential 
part of the sentiment of the nation. As much effort has been made to 
kindle the passion for war, and inspire the profoundest respect for 
the profession of arms, as though they were the noblest pursuits of 



32 

human life The iinlform of the soldier has been the badge of honor. 
The pomp of miUtary array has mtoxicatcd the senses, and "waked 
up an enthusiastic emotion that has rendered the common employ- 
ments of life insipid, and men have rushed into the glittering ranks 
and "tented field,'' as thougli nothing else ■were worthy the aspira- 
tion of our honorable ambition. All this is in accordance with the 
condition of those nations which arc bent on war, whose monuments 
of glory are inscribed with the records of victorious battles, who set- 
tle all difficulties with the sword, and where government itself is 
obliged to surround itself with instruments of death, to protect itself 
from the people whom it oppresses. But the predominance of a mil- 
itary spirit in a republic, is the bane of its liberties^ it is a fire which 
if not checked, will consume them to stubble. 

The miUtary spirit tends to produce an imperious, tyrannical spirit. 
The command of the officer is the most arbitrary of all edicts. It 
consigns whole ranks to instant death, and admits of no question nor 
appeal. It is, of course, apt to beget a slavish spirit. The soldier 
knows no law but the will of his superior, and is trained to move at 
his bidding, just as a machine is propelled by the power that gives it 
operation. It is liable to engender a cruel and blood-thirsty spirit, 
burning with hate, and delighting in carnage. I do not go so far 
as to believe that all war is unnecessary and unjust, on the part of 
both the forces Avho meet in contest, and therefore must believe that 
a military genius and propensity may be so combined with moral 
principle, and subject to control, as to produce none of those bitter 
fruits. But how rarely is this the case ; and when the martial ar- 
dor seizes on a whole nation, and becomes the predominant senti- 
ment, and impels it to seek occasions to gratify itself in the bloody 
field, its depravity cannot be denied, and it operates most adversely 
to the spirit of republicanism, from the characteristics already men- 
tioned. It is opposed to every thing Avhich promotes the true inter- 
ests of a republic. The spirit of industry, economy, commercial en- 
terprise, and public improvement, so essential to the preservation 
and development of po[)ular institutions, as Avell as that of humanity 
and religion, die out before the passion for military glory. 

It is connected with standing armies, foreign and domestic war. 



33 

anarchy and confusion. How is it with the Mexican republic, where 
the military spirit has such sway, notwithstanding the comparative 
imbecility of her soldiery ? She is continually embroiled in internal 
strife. The parts are without cohesion. The elements of the nation 
are unsettled, discordant and chaotic, as if each repelled all others 
from contact or approach. The domestic dissensions and violence 
have furnished occasion for the present war. The chief officers of 
her government are a succession of military [adventurers, and the 
most fortunate, and successful soldier is President. The country is 
a sort of army in camp, and general Herrera commands to day, gen- 
eral Almonte to-morrow, and general Santa Anna on the third ; and the 
business of the people is to watch the revolutions, and see what name 
turns up to be put after the word Gfeneral. Whenever the Mexicans 
should have as good a general as Taylor, at the head of the army, and 
he might be disposed to rule the country, he would only have to take 
his army to the capital, and order the President to retire, and take 
the reins into his own hands, and that would constitute his election. 
That is Mexican republicanism. And such will all republicanism be 
too likely to be found, where the military spirit predominates among 
a people. The army will choose the President. Instruments of war 
will be the tickets, and one musket will count more than a hundred 
paper votes. 

Though we may hope that God in his mercy, may avert from us 
such calamities as these, yet it is a part of the precaution which 
we should take for our well being and safety, to check every symp- 
ton of the spirit which leads to such a result. Now every war kin- 
dles up a degree of military ardor in the community. We see it in 
the interest which gathers around the progress «f a contending army; 
we behold it in the enthusiasm which kindles at the report of a bloody 
but successful battle ; we witness it in the acclamations of thunder in 
which the whole American people seem to lift up their mighty voice 
in praise to him who leads on the armed columns to victory. 

Men rush to the contest not only to gratify their own martial passion, 
but to partake in the glory which crowns great feats of arms. The 
military feeling is too easily excited in this country for our welfare. 
It is one of the most unfavorable signs of our political times^^that 

5 



u 

brilliant success in war Is such a ready passport to the highest confi- 
dence and estimation of the people. It seems as if the skill that can 
gain a battle, was connected in very many minds, with every talent 
and virtue under heaven. Because we have had a General Washing- 
ton, who gave victory to our arms, many seem to think that all suc- 
cessful generals must be "Washingtons, and that the exchange of a con- 
quering sword for the sceptre of civil dominion in the father of his coun- 
try, has fixed the model for all succeeding ages. So war has be- 
come a manufacturing of candidates for office. Every new field of 
blood is another step towards the civil promotion of some of the com- 
batants — to shoot and be shot at, is a qualification for office ; hence 
men will put on the plume and epaulette, and hasten to the scene of 
strife, to gain political distinction by killing men. General Taylor's 
camp has rivalled Congress with multitudes who thirst for distinction, 
and the road to Mexico has become the path to the highest honors of 
the state. Some of the members of Congress have exchanged the Hon- 
orable for the Colonel, and have left the arena of combat at Washing- 
ton, for the bloody field of Mexico, to gain by the valorous use of the 
sword, that elevation which they could not reach by eloquence of de- 
bate. The common soldier who cannot lift his eyes so high as to the 
summits of political distinction, hurries away from the quiet pursuits 
of life, to partake in the strifes of a successful campaign and acquire a 
petty renown among the inhabitants of his native village. When shall 
a just estimate of the requisites of our national safety, and a proper 
application of those talents and pursuits, which tend in the highest man- 
ner to develope the humane and noble theory of our republican insti- 
tutions, check that excess of military feeling which bestows such un- 
due honors on the achievements of mighty warriors ? 

The ambition which so many indulge to gain distinction in the bloody 
field, suggests some thoughts Avhich arc a digression from the subject, 
but with which it may not be improper to close this discourse. 

How many go to Mexico in pursuit of glory, and it is equally true 
of all scenes of deadly strife, that find an obscure and unremembered 
grave; thrown in heaps into a great pit on the battle-field, where they 
poured their blood, without coffins, without ceremony, and covered like 
beasts, with not a stone to tell where, and how they died. This is a< 



common fate of the private soldier, -who dies on the field of combat; he 
is undistinguished and forgotten amidst the throng of his comrades. 
And then for the brave officer who falls fighting gloriously for his coun- 
try, and whose name will be recorded in the praises of his countrymen; 
what a poor consolation is the anticipated remembrance of his valor, 
in the pain and exhaustion of the dying moment, and when his spirit is 
just about to appear in the presence of its Judge. In the battle of Sar- 
atoga there was an officer in the British army called Colonel Frazer. 
I have heard it stated that he was a native of Scotland, and that his 
father, or ancestor was concerned in the rebellion of 1745; you rec- 
ollect the issue of that rebellion. The insurgents were subdued; 
their titles were taken from those of noble blood ; and their estates con- 
fiscated. It is said the family with which he was connected, was one 
of distinction, and that it shared the common fate ; and that himself 
dishonored, and dispirited, sought distinction on the continent of Eu- 
rope ; but that when our revolutionary Avar broke out, he came back 
for the purpose of engaging in the British service, and redeeming the 
lost honor of his father's house. However this may be, he entered 
the King's army, and came to the Colonies to contend for the rights 
of the crown. He fought in the battle of Stillv;ater'; he was such an 
active and gallant officer, that he attracted the particular notice of 
tlie American commander, who signified to his riflemen, that it was 
important for the successful issue of the battle, that he be taken off; he 
expressed his regret for the necessity of his order, but declared he must 
die. The riflemen obeyed the command. In a short time a bvillet 
pierced his vitals ; he was taken down to the banks of the Hudson, 
about two miles from the battle-field, and there in a little house, the 
remains of which I saw about two years since, he lingered out a few 
hours of agony, and then expired. As he lay on his bloody couch, all 
hopes of life being extinct, he was often heard to exclaim, fatal 
ambition ! fatal ambition ! He had thought if he could come to 
America, and perform some brilliant achievement in war, he should go 
back to his native land, covered with glory. He accordingly put 
forth all the energies of his courage and valor ; and was the best offi- 
cer in Burgoyne's army. As I surveyed the place where he laid down 
his life and honor, I thought that the desolate spot, and the decayed ht- 



tie house in which he died, -were the most fitting monuments of the de- 
stroyed hopes of the aspiring and infatuated man. If we could hope 
that those whose visions of earthly ambition are ended by a fatal stroke 
on the field of war, were prepared for other and nobler honors above, 
it would alleviate the melancholy which surrounds their fate ; but of 
how few wko fall in glorious fight can such a hope be entertained. In 
what an unfitting state of mind do most of them enter upon the future. 
You reccollect perhaps the account given us of the death of Major 
Ringgold from Baltimore. He commanded in the artillery, in the bat- 
tles of Palo Alto and Rescaca de la Palma. Both of his legs were 
shattered by a cannon shot from the enemy. After the requisite sur- 
gical operations had been performed, he lay quietly, and, experiencing 
little or no pain, was able to converse easily with his attendants ; he 
was made fully aware of the hopelessness of his condition. Do you re- 
member on what subjects he conversed, when he lay waiting his end? 
He expressed no solicitude for his spiritual condition ; he said nothing 
of the necessity of penitence, faith, purity of heart, and of the solem- 
nity of appearing before God. He employed his last moments in de- 
scanting on the precision with which he directed the aim of his great 
guns, the successful shots which he had made, and the number of the 
Mexicans who had fallen by the discharge of his artillery. These 
were the consolations with which he solaced his dying hour. Oh what 
an undesirable state of mind in which to appear in the presence of God I 
He went into eternity exulting at the blood which he had shed ; and 
priding himself on his skill as a marksman in shooting down men, 
No doubt the officer thought he had been doing his duty; but it was 
a bloody duty, and ought to have been too painful an one to be the 
source of comfort to a dying man. But such are the feelings with 
which many warriors quit the world. Such is the preparation which 
is too commonly given by war, for the retributions of the coming life. 
May God deliver our countrymen from coveting their neighbor' s 
lands — from the lust of conquest — from the spirit of war — the thirst for 
human blood. May the love of peace be shed into the counsels of both 
the contending nations. May the voice of war, "the thunder of the 
captains and the shouting," the exultation of bloody triumphs, the cries 
of the wounded and dying, and the lamentations of widows and orphans, 
no longer vex the ears, and distress the feelings of the American people. 

146 
















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